Aloha!
If we have ever met, you probably noticed I opened with that word. If we have not met yet; now you know what to expect.
Aloha is more than a greeting. For me it represents warmth, respect, and a commitment to showing up fully in every interaction. It started as a personal habit and became part of how people know me.
Where It Comes From
When I left Ukraine at seven years old, I did not carry much with me. What I did carry was a deep understanding that human connection matters more than credentials, titles, or business cards. That understanding shaped everything I built.
I landed in Colorado and spent the next two decades building technology systems for organizations of all sizes. Nonprofits, SaaS companies, co-living platforms, wealth management firms. The work changed constantly. The one thing that never changed was how I showed up.
Why It Matters in Technology
In the technology world, people tend to lead with their resume. I lead with Aloha. It sets a different tone. It tells the person across from me that I see them as a human first and a business contact second.
This is not a strategy. It is how I am wired. And it works; not because it is calculated, but because people can tell when warmth is real.
When I walk into a company as a fractional CIO, I am often meeting teams that feel overwhelmed. Systems are breaking. Processes have drifted. Nobody is sure who owns what. The last thing those people need is someone who shows up with a clipboard and a frown.
They need someone who says: “I see you. I see the problem. Let’s fix it together.”
That is what Aloha means in practice.
The Unexpected Advantage
Here is something I did not expect when I started greeting everyone this way: it changes how people respond to hard conversations.
When I have to tell a founder that their backups have not been tested in six months, or that their entire business runs through one person’s password memory, the conversation goes differently when trust is already in the room. People hear the message instead of getting defensive. They lean in instead of shutting down.
Warmth is not weakness. It is the thing that makes honesty land without damage.
Aloha as a Practice
I do not just say Aloha at the start of a meeting. I try to carry it through everything: the way I write reports, the way I explain risk without fear-mongering, the way I hand off a project so the next person can actually pick it up.
If you are building something and you feel like the technology side of your business is held together by hope and habit, I would love to hear from you. I promise the conversation will start the same way every one of my conversations starts.
Aloha.
Connect with me on LinkedIn, or book a conversation if you want to talk about what is really going on under the hood of your business.